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Toward increasing relevance of the U.S. Army's Deployment Cycle Resilience Training: A Quality Improvement Evaluation
Susannah K Knust1, Laurel C Booth1, Kelly A Toner1
1Research Transition Office, Center for Military Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Silver Spring, Maryland, United States.
Introduction:
The Deployment Cycle Resilience Training (DCRT) is a rebranded and revised version of the initial deployment resilience training called Battlemind, that was in effect from 2014 to 2018.
Methods:
To maintain the relevance and utility of resilience training centred on the deployment cycle, the current version of DCRT was formally evaluated using mixed methodologies by the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research.
Results:
The evaluation team found that both soldiers and their spouses reported predominantly positive ratings for the pre-deployment and reintegration modules of the training. In addition to reporting the training to be satisfactory and relevant and reporting an intention to apply the skills beyond the deployment cycle, soldiers and spouses also identified areas for improvement related to addressing the training's relevancy and relatability.
Discussion:
To continue improving the training, the evaluation team recommends that the training include more examples from the army reserve and the National Guard, and that the support network (i.e., circle of support) be widened beyond spouses. These, and additional recommendations, are further discussed.
